Automatic railway signaling system.



G.. L. BOPP'. AUTOMATIG RAILWAY SIGNALING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED DC. 16; 1909.

Patented Oct. 20, 1914'.

Summon witnesses Gitornegs @fz/WW THE' NORRIS PETERS CU. FA'HUTO-LITI: WASP-UNI; mN. I: L,

narran sriiTiisPATENr ortica.

4cniiv'roiv L. BOPP, OEPIAWKEYE, IOWA.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY siGNALINGlsYsTEM.

T0 all LU/wm it may concern Be it known that I, CLINTON L. BOPP, a

citizen of the United States, residing at.

Hawkeye, in the county of Fayette and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Railway Signaling Systems; and I do` hereby declare the following` to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,

such as will enable others skilled in the art should the latter Ffa-il to operate as the train) passes from station to station.

With these and other objects in view, the

invention consists iii the combination, con-v struction and arrangement of parts as will hereinafter be more fully described andi claimed. i

The accompanying drawing is a diagramf matic view of the system. ln constructing a signaling system embodying the present invention, it is designed to provide means whereby the train can cause the operation of indicating means 'at the station or at hotels or other places for showing exactly where the train is at any given time, and also what progress the same is making which may be determined by tim ing they trains from one station to the other as the saine are shown on the indicator.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the main line wire 1 has indicators connected at intervals shown at A, B and C all of which are connected in series. The

' indicator A is connected to the positive pole Speccation of Letters Patent.

coilp ycomparable with and serving the sameiunctions `as `the impedance coiled is connected between indicator C and the battery 63; Shunted `around `the indicators A,

spectively to protect the indicators from static discharges.

'As shown in the drawings, there are 4several switches which `are ldesigned to be closed by a passing train and a description p Patented Oct. 2G, 1914. Application filed December 16, 1909. Seria1'NO.533,40/1.` v y' to the -rightiside of indicator A a wire ,6

whichk connects to a spring 55 located within"` a housing 7J positioned 'by the yside ofone'" of the rails of the track. Pivotally mounted within the housing 7 is a contact carrying lever 52 pivotally connected to arm49dependingfrom member 4S. Secured to the bottom side ofthe lever 52is a contact 56 which is adapted to engage the spring contact 55 when the member i8 is depressed by the flange ol a wheel, said wheel beingindi-A cated at G0, 'By means ofwire S the con` tact 56 is connected to ground. Spring 55 is insulatechas shown, from the housing. An impedance coil 5S is interposed in wire 6 between wire l and the Contact spring 55. There isprovided foreach of the indicators one oi. the yswitches above describedor a similar 4device for connecting wire 6 to the The; closing ground when a ,train passes. of the switches need be momentary only or just suticient for energizing the mechanism which actuates the indicators. caters may be of any style, a number of which are in common use and it r`is to be understood that any approved form or indicator can be employed at A, B or C, After the indicators have registered any further use of current is unnecessary so that the switch need be closed only a short time.

At each closing of the circuit by the depression of friction member el-S at the respective stations the indicators will be actuated, for it will be seen that the line wire l is constantly charged at a potential ditferent from the potential of the earth so that whenever any one of the contacts 5G, engages the corresponding contact 55, the line wire l will be connected to ground in which case currentwillr ow from the two batteries 62 and 63 to ground through the closed contacts. For instance, when the switch corre- The indiiio spondin g toindicator A is depressed or closed f as indicated in dotted lines in the drawing f the following circuit is also closed. Current flows from battery 63 through impedance coil 65, up wires 4 and 6 through indicator C, vover line wire l, through indicatorv B, and over line wire l again to wire 6, from where it passes through impedance coil 58, spring contact 55, contact 56, wire 8 to ground up from ground through wire 5 back to the opposite side of the battery 63. Thus, it will be seen that all of the indicators throughout the system have been actuated by the closing of one switch. In order to hold the arm 52 normally in raised position so that the member 48 may be engaged by the flange of a wheel and also for holding contact 56 out of engagement with spring contact 55, there is provided in each housing 7 a spring 54, one side of which engages the housing while the other side engages the under side of the corresponding lever 52. coils used are for the purpose of preventing vstatic discharges. The batteries 62 and 63 are necessarily of equal strength to prevent the overpowering of one by the other and therefore setting up a continuous current.

Connected adjacent one of the indicators such as A is a device for connecting the line to ground, should this be desired for any purpose. If it should be noted that one of the trains passes a station Without actu- Ihe several impedance ating the indicator, an attendant can depress switch 68 which will connect the line wire 1 to ground by the following circuit: wire 66, which is connected to' line 1, impedance coil 67, switch 68, wire IO to ground and it will be understood that when the line wire l is thus connected to ground the switches will be actuated just as though any one of the members 48 had been depressed by the iange of a passing train and the signal gien thereby.

Vhat I claim is:

l. In a signaling system, a closed main line circuit and return, equal but opposed sources of current connected to the line eircuit, one at each end of the line, a plurality of switches connected across the line and return adapted to be closed by a passing train, an auxiliary switch connected across theline and return, and step by step indicators interposed in the line circuit.

2. In a signaling system, a positively charged line wire connected to the ground at each end, step by step indicators interposed in the line wire and adapted to be operated as current Hows through said line wire, means associated with the line wire and track for causing current to iow through the line wire to operate the indicators as a `train passes, and an auxiliary switch interposed between the line wire and ground.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

CLINTON L. BOPP.

lllitnesses MAYME MURRAY, AUREA TIERNEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

